


bulletproof

by marvelinsanity



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Marvel Universe, Protective Avengers, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers x You - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27863393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelinsanity/pseuds/marvelinsanity
Summary: in which steve gets a little too overprotective, but you end up interpreting his words the wrong way and taking it a little too personally. angst to fluff cliche :)
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	bulletproof

**Author's Note:**

> one of my more popular works on tumblr! i hope you enjoyed and don't forget to leave a comment or kudos if you did <3 thank you!!!

The flight back after a mission was always quiet, whether everything had gone well or not. The team was both physically and mentally drained, falling into a comfortable silence as the Quinjet propelled itself through the sky. This mission in particular had taken a toll on all of you.

You were seated in the far corner of the jet as you glanced over at the screen of the flight details, thigh bandaged and throbbing mildly. While you were able to extract the intel you needed, you’d thrown yourself into the crossfire to do so, being gunned down by a sniper from above. You were lucky enough for it to be just a simple graze, but Steve was treating it as if it was the end of the world.

Of course, you kind of understood where he was coming from. Despite the fact that you had over ten years of experience in the field, you were the youngest member of the team besides Pietro and Wanda, being only two years behind Steve himself. But that didn’t stop you from feeling annoyed every time he seemed to act a little too overprotective no matter how many times you claimed you could take care of yourself.

“He’s just worried for your safety,” Natasha tried to explain when you complained about this one night. “You know how Cap is. A let’s-get-down-to-business and always-follow-the-rules type of guy. I wouldn’t overthink it if I were you.”

You still couldn’t help but think that he was overreacting a majority of the time, however. And in this one case in which he’d caught your side comment, it had erupted into a full-on argument.

“The least you could’ve done was call for backup,” he said through gritted teeth. “You went against orders and tried to handle things on your own, and look where that got you.”

“Excuse me?” You rolled your eyes. Whenever he made jabs at your decisions like this it made your blood boil with a furious anger; wanting nothing more than to explode at him. “I was successful in doing my job, was I not? And it’s not like there were any better options presented to me at that moment.”

“That doesn’t matter. You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” he shouted, jaw tensed and arms crossed over his chest as you stared each other down. “How could you have been so stupid, putting your life on the line like that?”

“Stupid?” you scoffed, seething with anger at this point. “If I recall, I was the one who got the intel from the controls room and shut the system down!”

“And you got shot as you were leaving because you didn’t keep a good enough lookout of your surroundings. You put the entire team into jeopardy,” he told you matter-of-factly. The words stung, but you did your best to remain calm despite being unable to believe he had the nerve to say something like that. “You almost ruined this mission.”

The team sat in stunned silence as they watched the screaming match unfold between you two.

“I’m sorry, but you know what, Rogers?” you spat, voice now raised several notches, “Maybe I’m sorry for pissing you off, but there’s no way I’m gonna keep putting up with you constantly criticizing me for every little thing I do. We all make mistakes, so I don’t get why I’m the only one who gets shit on for making a slip up every. Single. Damn. Time! I’m sick of you ordering me around like you’re my boss, because you aren’t.”

“I’m trying to do what’s best for both of us!” Steve yelled. “You just can’t seem to get that through your head, can you?”

“Don’t need to act like such an asshole about it.”

“You know, I wonder which will get you killed faster, your loyalty or your stubbornness? Because one of those things is going to be the death of you someday,” he shot back, his harsh words feeling like a spear being thrust through your chest. “And I won’t take any credit for it, because it’ll be all on you.”

You refused to look away, even as your lower lip trembled and your shoulders shook, unwilling to back down. Your lashes brimmed heavy with tears, hands clenched into shaking fists in a desperate last bid to keep it together.

“Okay, cut it out,” Tony finally interrupted, Wanda pulling you away from Steve as the murderous look in your eyes told her you were ready to throw hands. “You need to stop bickering like a married couple all the time.”

“Tell that to the self-righteous egotistical man who thinks he’s always in charge,” you muttered.

“To the ignorant woman who’s always throwing herself into the crossfire without considering how it might affect the overall completion of the mission,” Steve shot back.

“You little—”

“Y/N,” Wanda placed a gentle hand on your shoulder, “stop. It’s not worth arguing over.”

You winced as she helped you sit down, the pain from your wound beginning to catch up to you after standing on your injured leg for too long.

The rest of the flight was spent in silence, with you and Steve refusing to look in each others’ direction entirely.

<><><><><><><><><><>

As soon as the jet touched down back at HQs, you quickly changed and went straight to the gym. After wrapping protective tape around your palms, you went up to one of the punching bags and began attacking the hell out of it, imagining it as Steve’s face making it easier and seeming to further fuel your anger.

You went at this for an hour, pushing yourself to the max, refusing to give your screaming and aching limbs a break. Your muscles contracted and your arms and legs felt like they’d fall off at any minute but you continued going nonetheless, the aching pains that feeling like a million tiny needles stabbing at every inch of your body. Training was probably the worst thing to do for your leg, but the bullet wound was the last thing on your mind at the moment.

_I wonder which will get you killed faster, your loyalty or your stubbornness? Because one of those things is going to be the death of you someday._

_You put the entire team into jeopardy._

_You almost ruined this mission._

You punched the bag harder, feeling your knuckles cracking and blood running down your fingers, fresh bruises beginning to form underneath. Steve had never been this harsh towards you before, and you started wondering if he really was right about the fact that you almost ruined everything.

Yet you still didn’t understand why he had to be so overprotective all the time.

“What are you doing? You shouldn’t be training, or else that leg won’t recover.”

At the sound of his voice all his words came flooding back. Your heart began racing and your blood boiled as you stopped what you were doing and looked up at him.

“Leave me the _hell_ alone.”

Steve ignored your words and took several steps forward, stopping just a few feet away from where you stood.

“You’re bleeding,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice.

“I’m fine,” you snapped. “Now go away.”

“Come on, just—” he pleaded, voice sounding broken, “just let me bandage your hands up for you.”

Knowing he wasn’t going to leave, you slid down against the wall and let out a defeated sigh, allowing him to kneel in front of you and take your hands in his. The feeling of his rough, callused skin against yours despite the frustration coursing through your veins still sent a little spark up your fingers, and you never hated yourself more for it than you did now.

You briefly scanned over his features, taking note of his tired and red eyes and the crease between his eyebrows as he carefully disinfected your wounds.

“Y/N,” he finally spoke up after several minutes of silence, as he finished bandaging up your hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Okay.” You refused to make eye contact with him, knowing you would break down the second you looked back up into his bright blue eyes.

“Y/N,” his voice broke, the sound making your heart twist in your chest. “Please look at me, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me sweetheart,” you muttered.

“I’m so sorry,” he repeated again, “I don’t think you’re stupid and that you jeopardized the team. You saved us all, in fact. I really shouldn’t have said any of that to begin with.”

You didn’t realize you were crying until you felt the salty tears roll down your cheeks and into your mouth, and you choked on a sob as you finally forced yourself to meet his gaze, breaking down.

“Then why did you act the way you did?”

“It was wrong of me,” he exhaled, “I…look, I’m just worried about you, because if that extraction did go wrong and something happened to you, I’d feel like it was all on me. I’d feel like it was my fault, because I failed to look out for you. And I don’t think I can handle being responsible for your death.”

“As much as you hurt me,” you said as you stood up and were pulled into his arms, voice muffled by the fabric of his T-shirt, “I could never bring myself to actually hate you.”

“I can’t lose you,” he murmured into your hair, arms tightening their grip around your waist. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you mumbled, voice muffled by his T-shirt, “I forgive you.”

“I love you,” he whispered so quietly that he thought you wouldn’t catch what he was saying, but you just barely managed to hear it. But frankly, he didn’t care.

You couldn’t help the smile forming on your face at that moment. “I love you too.”

“Oh my god, that tension was fucking _killing_ me,” Bucky groaned as the doors to the gym burst open, and he and Sam came inside. “I was about to explode if you guys didn’t kiss and make up.”

“Oh uh, also, Y/N, your leg…” Sam pointed out. You and Steve both looked down to see blood seeping through the thick bandaging wrapped around your thigh.

“Well, shit,” you choked out. “Oops.”

“Language,” Steve joked. “Come on. Let’s go to Bruce so we can get that treated.”

“Don’t have too much fun with each other!” the two men called after you.

“Shut up!” you shouted back.


End file.
